Oceana: US and Mexico Are Failing to Protect Marine Life Salvador Rivera - Border Report
go to original July 24, 2022

(Oceana)

Oceana, the global ocean protection group, is demanding that Mexico and the U.S. fulfill their legal commitments under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement to protect the oceans.

Oceana claims Mexico and the United States are “putting marine wildlife, fisheries, and fishers at risk.”

The group claims Mexico allows illegal fishing to a point that 40 percent of its seafood is considered illegal.

“Mexico has been the subject of several commercial embargoes over the past few years,” said Mariana Aziz, director of Oceana’s transparency campaign in Mexico. “Mexico is losing access to important international markets because we cannot demonstrate the legal origin of our seafood; this not only affects the national economy but also fishers who depend on these markets.”

Currently, the United States has a commercial embargo on fish from the Upper Gulf of California.

And according to Oceana, since February, the U.S. has prohibited Mexican vessels from the Gulf of Mexico from entering its ports.

From April to October of last year, Mexico lost its certification to export shrimp for failing to meet standards to prevent sea turtle bycatch.

Oceana’s campaign director, Gib Brogan, says Mexico has a long way to go.

“That’s a shocking number, and that’s illegal, under-reported and unregulated fish,” Brogan said. “My colleagues in Mexico are working on this to improve the transparency of seafood and traceability of the seafood to insure the fish and seafood caught in Mexico is legal and honestly labeled.”

Brogan said the U.S. also has a lot of work to do.

Read the rest at Nexstar Media

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